Certifications

Research Summary

Dr. Brodsky's major clinical research involves the study of aplastic anemia, PNH and other bone marrow failure disorders. His research shows that immunoablative doses of cyclophosphamide, without bone marrow transplantation, can lead to durable complete remissions in severe aplastic anemia. The reason high-dose cyclophosphamide is able to ablate the effector cells without destroying hematopoietic stem cells is that the earliest stem cells (but not lymphocytes) contain high levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase conferring resistance to the cytoxic properties of cyclophosphamide. Dr. Brodsky and his colleagues in neurology and rheumatology are applying this approach in other severe autoimmune disorders including, scleroderma, myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis and autoimmune hematologic disorders.

Dr. Brodsky's major laboratory interests relate to the study of normal and abnormal hematopoiesis. Specifically his lab studies PIG-A gene mutations in aplastic anemia. His group has developed a novel diagnostic assay for PNH based on the pore forming toxin (aeromonas hydrophila).